Dental surgical instrument



l. H.ITAYL0R.

DENTAL SURGICAL INSTRUMENT. APPLICATION Flyin ocT.25. 1920.

1,386,289. Patented Aug. 2, 1921.

INVENTOR.

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1 ATTORNEY UNITED STATES K JAMES H. TAYLOR, 0F OVENSBORO, KENTUCKY.

DENTAL SURGICAL INSTRUMENT.

Application filed October 25, 1920.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, JAMES H. TAYLOR, a citizen of the United States, residing at Owensboro. in the county of Baviess and State of Kentucky, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Dental Surgical instruments, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to dental surgical instruments and more particularly to an instrument designed for use in the operation of cutting away the bony process in which a malerupted molar has become impacted.

`rWhen an upper wisdom tooth is malerupted or impacted, one of the first requirements is to remove this portion of the bony process so as to permit of the tooth being lifted from its impression, it being impracticable to extract the tooth on a direct line as it is presented at an angle toward the adjacent side of the respect-ive second molar.

In view of the foregoing the primary object of the invention is to provide an instrument which may be conveniently manipulated without liability of injury to the patient and which will operate to smoothly cleave or cut away the portion of the bony process of the superior maxillary which has grown over the rear side of the malerupted molar. rlhus by the use of the instrument this portion of the bony process may by a single operation be cut away and removed leaving a smooth surface which will quickly heal.

Another object of the invent-ion is to so construct the instrument that the same may be securely clamped or anchored to the molar and which will, when operated to cut away the bony process as above explained, exert a lifting action upon the molar tending to draw the same from its impression, so that, other conditions being fairly normal, the actual extraction of the tooth after disengagement of the instrument therefrom, may be effected by the use of the ordinary forceps.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure l is a side eleva-tion of the instrument embodying the present invention, the view illustrating the manner in which the instrument is employed;

Fig. E2 is a' top plan view of the instrument;

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 illustrating a modified form of the instrument Speeication of Letters Patent.

Patented A110'. 2, 1921.

Serial No. 419,204.

adapted for use on the right hand side of the mouth;

Fig. fl is a front elevation of the instrument, parts being shown in section;

Fig. 5 is a detail longitudinal sectional view through a blade of the instrument.

The instruments shown in Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawings are of counterpart structure, and the only difference is that the one shown in Fig. 2 is adapted to be employed in operating in the extraction of the upper left third molar, the instrument shown in Fig. 3 being designed for use in the operation of extracting the lower right hand third molar, and therefore reference numerals which are employed in specifically describing the instrument shown in Figs. l and 2 will be applied to corresponding parts in Fig. 3.

Fig. l of the drawings illustrates clearly the conditions under which the instrument shown in Figs. l and Q is to be employed. In this figure, the reference letter A indicates the left side of the superior maxillar bone. The second molar is indicated by the letter B and the third molar or wisdom tooth by the reference letter C. t will be observed that the third molar is malerupted or impacted so that it occupies an angular position, being embedded to a considerable extent in the bony process of the superior maxillary. When this molar C is malerupted as illustrated in Fig. l, its crown will be presented at an angle toward and in close proximity to, if not in actual contact with, the rear side of the second molar B. It is evident that under the conditions illustrated it would be impracticable to extract a malerupted molar by a direct withdrawal due to the obstruction offered by the second molar B, and that before the molar B can be lifted from its impression, the bony process of the maxillary A must be removed where it embeds the rear side of the molar, and it is for the purpose of removingthis portion of the bony process that the instrument which will now be specifically described is employed.

The instrument embodying the invention comprises a pair of crossed pivoted members one indicated in general by the numeral l and the other by the numeral 2. The member 1 comprises a handle 3 which is provided near its forward end with a flattened portion 4f which is rotatably disposed against a similar portion 5 formed at the forward opposite sides of the molar.

portion of the handle 6 of the member 2. A pivot screw 7 has a.. threaded portion 8 which is tightly screwed into a threaded opening 9 formed in the portion t of the member 1, and a cylindrical shoulder portion 10 and a head 11 which latter portions are rotatably received within a similarly formed recess 12 in the portion 5 of the member 2. In this manner the members 1 and 2 are pivotally connected, and in order that their pivotal movement in a direction to bring the handles 3 and 6 toward each other, may be limited, the said members 1 and 2 are provided rearwardly of their portions et and 5 respectively with coacting shoulders 13 and 14. rlhe handles 3 and 6 may bc lrnurled or otherwise linished and may be of any shape best adapted tok provide for convenient manipulation of the instrument.

ln order that the instrument may be clamped or anchored to the third molar preparatory to cutting away the portion of the bony process which embeds the rear side of the molar, the member 2 is provided forwardly of its pivot with an upwardly right angularly extending jaw 16 having a flattened pivot portion 17. A jaw 18 is provided with spaced pivot ears 19 disposed to straddle the pivot portion 1T and a pivot pin 20 is litted through the said ears and to the said pivot portion so that the jaw 1S is pivotally connected for swinging movement with the jaw 16. The numeral 21 indicates an interiorly threaded boss which is formed upon the inner side of the fixed jaw 16, and threaded into this boss is an adjusting screw which extends through a slot 23 formed in the jaw 18 and is provided with a head 2li by which it may be rotated, the head bearing against the outer side of the said jaw i8 and being provided in its periphery with diametric openings 25 in which may be inserted the end of any suitable implement which may then be employed as a lever for the purpose of rotating the screw to bring the jaws together in clamping the same to the molar. The jaws, in the present form of instrument, are turned upwardly and outwardly from their pivoted ends, and the opposing faces of the aws at their outer or upper ends are cupped or concaved as indicated by the nu meral 26, so as to enable them to embrace the Referring to the said figure it will be evident that after the instrument has been disposed in the proper position, the adjusting screw 22 may be tightened so as to cause the jaw faces 26 to bind rmly against the opposite sides of the molar to be extracted and thus the member 1 of the instrument is firmly clamped or anchored to the said molar.

The member 2 of the instrument is provided forwardly beyond its pivot with an extension 27 which is suitably arched to adapt it to clear the forward sides of the jaws 16 and 18, and the terminal portion of this extension is formed to provide a blade indicated by the numeral 28. This blade 'has a knife edge 29 which is suitably sharpened, and the outer side of the blade is suitably rounded both transversely and longitudinally, as indicated by the numeral 80, so as to provide a smooth surface, the opposite or inwardly presented face of the blade being concaved longitudinally and transversely, as at 31, so that the cutting edge 29 will be relatively thin and so that the blade may more readily enter and cleave the bonyl process. lf the instrument is disposed in subst-an tially a horizontal plane as shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings, the cutting edge of the blade is presented upwardly and it will be evident that after a suitable incision has been made in the gum and the jaws 16 and 1S have been securely anchored to the molar at a point close to the bony process in which the molar is embedded, a downward pressure upon the handle 6 will cause the blade 28 to move upwardlyV and cut cleanly through the bony process. It will be evident that when leverage is exerted against the handle 6 in the manner above stated, not only will the blade be moved upwardly to cut through the bony process, but the resistance offered to the blade will result in a tendency for the member l of the instrument to pull upon the jaws 16 and 18 so that as the process is cut away the instrument will be caused to exert a certain amount of force tending to elevate the molar from its impression, and thus the operation of extraction is somewhat facilitated.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

A dental surgical instrument comprising a pair of pivoted handle members, a jaw extending upwardly substantially at right angles from one of the handle members, a jaw for coaction with the first-mentioned jaw, and a cutting blade extending from the other handle member and curved upwardly and inwardly in advance of and in a line between the said j aws.

In testimony whereof I aliix my signature.

JAMES H. TAYLoR. [L a] 

